Kenny Butler

Violin Neck Fix

Posted on 07/20/2011 by Kenny Butler

Recently,Luthier Mark Leue and I discussed wolf tones on my old violin and what his plan is to fix the angle of the neck using the French Neck Set method.

The neck was replaced on this fiddle, possibly one hundred years ago, like many very old violins, to lengthen and increase the angle of the violin. This was done to deal with the expanded range, and tension of the steel strings, of the modern violin setup created in the mid-19th century.

The original scroll is still on the violin and grafted to the new neck. This neck replacement was not done very well and I want to have my violin setup as perfect as possible. Right now the angle of the neck does not allow the proper action of the strings, causing me to inadvertently hit the c-bout of the violin with my bow hair on the e-string side. This is caused by the height of the bridge in relation to the fingerboard. The bridge is too low for the bow clearance but perfect in relation to the the fingerboard.

Mark will angle the neck back, enabling him to create a taller bridge, giving me the clearance I need for the bow while preserving the perfect string action. He will also carve the neck to create the perfect shape the neck is lacking.

Posted in Violin Repair | Tagged Mark Leue, Scroll Graft, Violin Repair | 369 Comments

After Hours at the Hot Club

Posted on 05/17/2011 by Kenny Butler

Here’s my composition “After Hours at the Hot Club”

After Hours at the Hot Club by kennybutler

Posted in Composition | 790 Comments

Improvising with Danny

Posted on 01/24/2011 by Kenny Butler

Chord substitutions for the tune "Londonderry Air" (aka Danny Boy)

At the bottom of this post you can listen to a violin improvisation recording I made based on the tune “Londonderry Air,” popularly known as “Danny Boy.” It’s known as other titles like, “Air from County Derry” or “Derry Air.” I used rather more advanced chord substitutions than are often heard which you can see in a larger view by clicking the image on the left. Here is a link to a pdf if you prefer.

Having all these chords flowing along enables me to express all sorts of ideas, creating tension and release in unexpected places in consequence of the the rich chordal movement. Being able to freely execute advanced violin techniques, such as artificial harmonics, while improvising requires several things – mastery of the violin techniques themselves, musical ideas, understanding of the harmonic movement of the song and what possibilities the chord you are currently faced with offers. You must never get lost.

Improvising isn’t guess work just like sight reading isn’t guess work. A trained classical musician confronted with a work by Mozart doesn’t see a page filled with indecipherable scribbles. She recognizes the notes and patterns never having to guess at the key signature because she knows what she is looking at and what it all means. Her fingers touch down in the correct place on the fingerboard and her bow will move just with a nod of her partners head. The music will be right. It’s because she has worked countless hours to make it look easy. It takes countless hours to learn to execute advanced violin techniques in improvisation. You must know what you are looking at and know what it all means. To develop this skill you need to do the work.

Of course there are other approaches, such as free improvisation, but that is for another day. For now master your instrument and learn those chords…. As Dizzy said, “They’re moving fast.”

If you would like an mp3 of just the guitar part to play along with send me an email and I will be happy to give it to you for free.

Kenny
kenny@kennybutler.com

Air From County [ 5:14 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Posted in Drop Box | Tagged Improvisation | 5,184 Comments

Big Changes

Posted on 12/31/2010 by Kenny Butler

A Piece in Progress for Solo Violin - Click music to enlarge.

Here is a solo violin piece I am in the middle of writing, called Brobdingnagian, which at first glance might appear to have a form of 32 bars but that’s not the case. The harmonic movement, although complex, might be recognizable to some and if you think you have an idea what it is post it in the comments.

The first 16 bars I created as an introspective introduction to be played as freely as one likes. It works well even played in a straight slow tempo but feel free to rubato at will. It’s fun being the composer letting the player make musical choices but also showing a decided road map.

So far I haven’t added dynamic markings but there are good fingerings and bowings to help you along.The Presto can be played slower but I like racing along strongly accenting the 3rd beats of bars 27 and 28.

Note at measure 24 that I indicate the first finger on the A string, being the often neglected second position, which in this phrase is actually quite comfortable, particularly leading into bar 25 from the open D string. Although I don’t mark a finger for the Eb on beat one of bar 25 the obvious choice is the 1st finger both for technical and phrasing reasons. I know – then I indicate a return to the second position starting on beat 3 of bar 25. Why? It is repeating the fingering and phrasing of the first four notes of the same measure and it sounds better. If you are comfortable in the second position you will see the advantage. Of course, violinists must individually decide for themselves what suits them best.

The completed piece will be at least three times longer than this and I will post them as well. I may add double stops to the first section but I thought of keeping that rather stark.

You can download a pdf version of it here.

Posted in Composition | 4,157 Comments